Flow Characteristics of Crude Oil with Additive

摘要

In the present work, flow characteristics of high sulfur crude oil (HSCO) with the addition of low sulfur crude oil (LSCO) were studied. LSCO was mixed in high sulfur crude oil in concentration of 10-15% by volume. The rheological characteristics of the heavy crude oil suspension were determined using ISO-certified Rheometer for the range of shear rate varying from 0 to 500 s~(-1), and temperature range varies from 25 to 45 °C. The rheological characteristics of the HSCO include steady-state flow behavior, yield stress, and thixotropic characteristic, etc. Optical microscopy and dynamic light scattering were used to analyze the size of wax crystals and crystal size distribution, respectively. The average size of wax crystals was 2550 nm for 100% HSCO which further reduced to 350 nm after adding 15% LSCO. HSCO shows the non-Newtonian flow characteristics at low temperature and decreases with increase in temperature. Rheological results of HSCO show that there is a reduction in viscosity with the addition of LSCO. The LSCO as an additive in HSCO can be beneficial for design of crude oil transportation pipeline.